Eerie Audio Files, Continued

The Story and Song of the Haunted Mansion

The Haunted Mansion has three official story records: one is "The
Story and Song from the Haunted Mansion," an LP featuring a pre-Happy-Days
Ronny Howard;
then there is a shorter children's record titled "Walt Disney Presents
the Haunted Mansion," one of Disney's many "See, Hear, Read"
records narrated by Robie
Lester, a popular narrator for many of Disney's childrens albums. The
third Haunted Mansion story album is the B-side of "Trick or Treat,"
a Disneyland Record starring Donald Duck, his nephews, and Witch Hazel,
with the original "Story and Song" recording edited down to fit
completely on the B-side of this 12" LP.

During
this same 1969-71 period, Howard was teamed with Lester for other Disneyland
albums, including The Tin Woodman of Oz and The Orange Bird.
Along with Sam Edwards and Ginny Tyler, they were among the stock company
for the children's albums during that period.

Recorded
in 1969 (a year after he stopped playing Andy Griffith's son Opie), "The
Story and Song from the Haunted Mansion" (Out of print; Disneyland
Records 3947) featured the young "Ronny" Howard (above left) as
"Mike," a young teen out on a date with "Karen" (voiced
by Lester [ right], who was nominated for a Grammy for her work in The
Aristocats.)

A "Grrrrrr-eat!" album

The
story is narrated by the one-and-only Thurl
Ravenscroft, who is one of Disney's best-known vocal talents (and is
also known for being the original voice of Tony the Tiger, and the singer
of "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch," from Chuck Jones' classic
cartoon How the Grinch Stole Christmas). The ride's main scenes are
faithfully represented, often with the original sound effects, making this
an album worth buying a turntable for. Click
here for a transcript of the record (which you might like to compare
with the actual Haunted Mansion
attraction transcript.) The album contains an 11-page book of beautiful
illustrations by Disney Imagineer/artist Collin Campbell. Listen to our
recording of the album to see how the LP's Ghost Host, voiced by Pete
Renoudet, compares with the attraction's Ghost Host, voiced by popular
Disneyland vocal talent Paul
Frees.

Click the button to listen to "The Story and Song from the Haunted
Mansion," (released in 1969 - Disneyland Records STER-3947)
(Click here
to view the album pages in a new window while listening)

In an excerpt from Mouse
Tracks, an exhaustive history of Disneyland Records, author/historian
Tim Hollis notes the following about the Haunted Mansion album:

"Instead of simply reproducing the ride's sound track, as had been
done for it's a small world and The Enchanted Tiki Room, or
letting a "second cast" recreate the dialogue, as in Pirates
of the Caribbean, the Haunted Mansion album was produced as a complete
story, although certainly elements from the earlier formats were used as
well. The resulting production has attained a sort of cult status among
Disneyland/Haunted Mansion fans, as much for its performances as for the
fact that it incorporated several elements that either never made it into
the final attraction as built, or which were removed and/or revised over
time."

Trick or Treat & Haunted Mansion lite
Pictured here is the 1974 LP Trick or TreatThe Stories of
Halloween (Out of print; Disneyland Records DQ-1358). The whole
of side two is an abbreviated version of the recording made for the
soundtrack album mentioned above. Side one is the unrelated (but famous)
Donald Duck story"Trick or Treat," featuring Witch Hazel
and Donald's nephews. Click the link below to listen to side one,
the story of "Trick or Treat."

Click the link below to listen to side two, an abbreviated version of
Disneyland Records 3947 - "The Story and Song of the Haunted Mansion."

No Rainy Day for Renoudet

Hollis continues:

"The final actor to be given a starring role [in the Mansion soundtrack
project] was Pete Renoudet as the Ghost Host. Whereas the ride's narration
was performed by Paul Frees in his most sinister intonations, his expected
salary for such work precluded him from being used for the LP, so the versatile
Renoudet was assigned what is probably his best-known role. As we shall
soon see, it was far from Renoudet's only Disney performance, but it was
certainly one of his most memorable."

"Yo-your Gh-ghost Ho-host..."

Peter
Renoudet went on to make other significant contributions to the Haunted
Mansion attraction as well. He loaned his voice to queue recordings used
in the attraction's early days, and WDI sources have recalled him as one
of the potential applicants for the original role of "Ghost Host"
(although Renoudet himself doesn't recall that being the case.) Regardless,
for many kids throughout the '70s, Renoudet was the voice of the
"Ghost Host" due to his work on the album (and the spooky electronic
echo effect that helped to give the role such distinction.)

Incidentally, Renoudet was also featured in dozens of Disney projects,
as well as a few Disneyland attractionsmost notably as "Henry,"
one of the Country Bears.

The
quest

Haunted Mansion fan Jeff Babb writes about discovering that Disney had
just released a record of the Haunted Mansion at age 10:

"In August 1969 The Haunted Mansion at Disneyland opened, and being
that the two things I dug the most in those days were ghosts and Disneyland,
there was little else that could have excited me more... I begged my parents
to take us to Disneyland the next weekend so that we could see it. My father
squashed the idea with cold hard facts; it cost him fifty dollars to take
his family of five for a day at Disneyland, and he wouldn't be able to afford
that kind of dough until the next summer.

"As any ten year-old child will tell you, a few months is equivalent
to forever, especially when that child is waiting for his birthday,
Christmas, or a trip to Disneyland. I was no different, and I was sure I
would never get to see the ghosts waiting for me in the spooky old house
I had seen at Disneyland since I was six.

"I am not sure when I first discovered that Disney released the Haunted
Mansion album, but I was once again overcome with joy when I did learn of
it. In my little ten year-old mind I relished the idea that I could buy
the album, and then enjoy the ride over and over whenever I felt like it.
Sure, it wasn't the same as going to Disneyland, but hey, a 33 1/3 vinyl
simulation was as good as a DVD in those days, and so I promptly got on
the phone, and dialed up every record store I could find in the yellow pages..."
You can visit Babb's
blog to read more of the story - and as you can see in the photo, the
quest does have a happy ending.

Digging
up a great script

The "Story and Song" album was recorded on May 23, 1969, and one
of the original "Storyteller Scripts"
has been discovered!

This script, unearthed from the archives of the Walt Disney Music Company,
was used during the recording of "The Story and Song from the Haunted
Mansion." While the script reads nearly the same as the actors' lines
on the record (save for an extra line for the "Raven" at the end
which was edited out of the project), it is interesting to note that Pete
Renoudet maintains a similar inflection to Paul Frees' performance throughout
the record's introduction to the "Ghost Host." Since Frees' "Ghost
Host" was probably recorded in February of '69, Renoudet must have
had an opportunity to hear the attraction soundtrack before recording his
version for this record.

A
special cassette tape re-release in 1998

Walt Disney Records decided to rerelease "The Story and Song from
the Haunted Mansion" in late 1998 as a special market release, though
the cassette is now out of print. The recording was retitled "A Spooky
Night In Disney's Haunted Mansion" (ISBN 0-7634-0489-6).

DoomBuggies.com spoke to Randy Thornton of Walt Disney Records, who was
instrumental in bringing the re-recording to life. Click
here to read an interview with Mr. Thornton about the project.

A
child's tour through Disney's Haunted Mansion

In 1970 Disney released a Haunted Mansion record for children. Titled "Walt
Disney Presents the Haunted Mansion" (Out of print; Disneyland Vista
339), this "See, Hear, Read" 7- inch record quickly became one
of the most popular of Disneyland's "Original Little Long Playing Records."
This 33.3 RPM recording is a children's version of the Haunted Mansion story,
tamed a bit and narrated by Disneyland Story Reader Robie Lester (who performed
the voice of "Karen" on the 12-inch soundtrack album, and narrated
many of Disney's "See, Hear, Read" recordings.)

Going
"Golden"

Side two includes two tracks from the original "Chilling, Thrilling
Sounds of the Haunted House" album - ostensibly not the tracks that
the original "Chilling" album recommends parents keep away from
children, however. The 24-page book,
which contained art that was more stylized than that of the soudtrack album,
was also released separately by Golden Press to drug stores and five-and-dimes
as a paperback story book without the record.

Click the button to listen to the full story from Walt Disney Presents
the Haunted Mansion (Disneyland Vista 339), narrated by Robie Lester.
(Click here to
view the album pages in a new window while listening)

Click the button below to hear an introduction to the special "teachers'
edition" of the record:

Click the button below to hear the special "teachers' edition"
version of the story, narrated by Marvin Miller:

Click the button below to hear a wrap-up activity from the special "teachers'
edition" of the record:

A spooky classroom

In 1976, this story was released to educators in a special "teacher's
edition" for classroom read-along use (Walt Disney Read Along RA-42).
While the book and art were essentially the same, the story was re-recorded
with a male narrator, and the project is oriented toward a shared group
experience. In an introductory recording, the narrator, Marvin Miller, explains
to children what a "mansion" is, and prepares them for the story
to come. After the story is read, a final wrap-up activity is given, in
which children are asked to draw a picture frame and create a portrait -
perhaps a "new spook who might like to move into the Haunted Mansion."
The record was undoubtedly a hit in elementary schools around Halloween
time, with the added plug for the Disney Haunted Mansion attraction a little
icing on the cake for the publisher.

Miller
time

Incidentally, Marvin Miller was a very prolific announcer with a deep baritone
voice who was a narrator on television shows such as "Batman"
in the '60s and "Disneyland" in the '70s. He also voiced innumerous
cartoon voices, appeared in many feature films, and narrated the entire
King James Version of the Bible for Audio-Books. Characters he voiced in
his career include Robby the Robot, Genghis Khan, and Mr. Proteus.

On
June 26, 1999, Disneyland released (in conjunction with the Art of the Haunted
Mansion special event held at the park) a 30th anniversary limited edition
CD honoring the Haunted Mansion. The disc was produced by Red Dot Net, a
digital on demand company, meaning that each CD is burned individually,
rather than being "pressed" from a glass master disc as most mass-marketed
CDs are. Although there was a special edition sold on the first day of the
CD's release, The "limited edition" tag on the cover refered to
the period of time the disc was available for sale, since the "limited
edition" cover remained on discs sold for many months. Eventually,
"limited edition" was removed from the cover art, and one of the
tracks (a Phantom Manor tour) was removed, though the discs remain on sale.
In 2001, the same disc also went on sale at Walt Disney World featuring
cover art with the Orlando Haunted Mansion facade.

As you can see from the cardboard point-of-purchase display
pictured at left, Disneyland started promoting the release of the disc weeks
before the initial release. The discs were sold for $19.99 through the same
channels that sold the now-defunct on-demand "Disneyland Forever"
custom CDs, although the Haunted Mansion discs came in special pre-assembled
jewel cases with a very informative
booklet designed by Walt Disney Imagineering that explained each track
and contained many pieces of conceptual art. (Later releases from 2002 on
didn't contain the booklet.)

A
limited limited-edition

The first 999 copies of the disc were burned onto specially
silk-screened CDs that pictured the glowing, green face of the 13-hour grandfather
clock from the Mansion's Corridor of Doors set. These 999 CDs (which sold
out approximately two hours after Disneyland opened the day they went on
sale) also had a special 13th track included on the disc, and they were
each hand-signed by both Disney composer Buddy Baker and Disney lyricist
"X" Atencio, both of whom are responsible for the attraction's
"Grim Grinning Ghosts" theme song. These special CDs came with
a card inserted that contained the signatures.

Click the button below to listen to the looping promotional spiel from
the make-it-yourself 30th anniversary disc kiosk. The voice you hear is
that of Fred Frees, son of the late Paul Frees who actually voiced the
Ghost Host for the attraction.

The developers of the project

"We saw all the pirated discs starting to make their
way among the collectors, and thought, hey, we can do this much better,"
said WDI's Chris Merritt in a conversation with DoomBuggies.com. He, along
with a number of other Imagineers and Disney employees, started researching
the archives to find the original pieces of tape that were remastered and
rebuilt into the special project. "In one case that I can think of,
we had to use pirated materials ourselves," he mused. "The clip
of Paul Frees using a Lugosi accent just didn't turn up. We couldn't find
it anywhere. So we had to use the best copy we could find out there. That
piece has been circulating for some time."

The
contents of the CD

In addition to numerous Marc Davis sketches in the booklet
art, the 30th anniversary disc contains a wealth of audio treasures that
only WDI could have supplied, making this CD a fascinating historical document.
Click here for a track list,
along with the commentary supplied in the CD insert.

Collectible editions of this CD occasionally become available
on Amazon.com, and the disc makes a worthy addition to any audio library.
Click
here to check for availability.